Paint ball gun prank ends when troopers arrive

Published: April 27, 2003 8:00PM

Two men faced criminal charges today after they were allegedly observed playing a prank with a paint ball gun along Interstate 70 Sunday afternoon in Guernsey County.

The two men, identified only as 22-year-old and 19-year-old black males, were taken to the Guernsey County jail after being arrested by troopers from the Cambridge post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

The patrol said a single charge of aggravated menacing was expected to be filed today against one of the men for the gun incident, and a charge of possession of cocaine was expected to be filed against the other man after troopers allegedly recovered cocaine from the vehicle occupied by the two men.

Two additional passengers were reportedly detained at the scene, but were released a short time later. No charges were pending against these two men.

According to reports, multiple emergency 911 calls were received by the Guernsey County Sheriffs Office and highway patrol at approximately 3:47 p.m. Sunday reporting a black male was holding a gun to another black mans head while attempting to get him inside the trunk of a yellow (or tan) Cadillac along I-70 near milepost 173.

It appeared they had a flat tire and while they were changing the tire, they found a paint ball/pellet gun and started horsing around with the gun, said Sgt. Bob Robson of patrols Cambridge post.

The Cadillac was located near the Shaw Road overpass and the four occupants were removed from the vehicle by highway patrol troopers Sgt. Kay Perkins, Maurice Waddell and Mark Masters, and sheriffs Deputy Alan Adair.

During an inventory of the vehicle, the troopers reportedly recovered multiple guns all pellet or paint ball guns and an undisclosed amount of a white substance, believed to be cocaine.